Fever robs fans of Ronaldo but Ronaldinho sparks mini-invasion

Ronaldo missed training yesterday with a fever. The Brazil striker limped out of last Sunday's 4-0 friendly victory over New Zealand in Geneva at half-time complaining of blisters on his feet after scoring the first goal, but on Tuesday the team doctor Jose Luis Runco said Ronaldo had fully recovered.

Brazil have already named their squad for their opening game in Berlin next Tuesday against Croatia, with Ronaldo due to partner Adriano in attack. His Real Madrid team-mate Robinho would be the likely replacement if Ronaldo was unfit.

Yesterday it felt like matchday as more than 22,000 fans, nearly all dressed in the team's green-and-yellow, watched their only public training session at Offenbach's Bieberer Berg stadium, near Frankfurt, waving flags and chanting. One boy in a Brazil shirt made a mini-pitch invasion to get an autograph from Ronaldinho.

The team had been training in the nearby town of Koenigstein, where the arena can take only 800 people. Tickets to yesterday's session were distributed for free around Offenbach and Koenigstein earlier in the week, maximum four per person, with around 25,000 expected to turn up by organisers. In the event the stadium's capacity was cut back for safety reasons and to accommodate more than 1,000 journalists covering Brazil. More than 500 security guards were called in.

The Brazilians had been concerned about the state of the turf but it did not appear to affect the practice as Brazil's starters faced the reserves in a smaller field of play, with Robinho replacing Ronaldo. "I wasn't able to get tickets to the World Cup, so this is the closest I'll get to the Brazilian players," said 42-year-old German Martin Wolf. "It's great just to be able to see them for a few moments."

In Switzerland, where Brazil spent two weeks preparing, some 45,000 fans all told watched their training sessions. The city was taken over by more than 10,000 Brazil fans each day.

Back in Brazil, residents of Rio de Janeiro are "taxing" motorists to raise funds to decorate their streets in the national green and yellow. Cars have been stopped by rope barriers in side streets and drivers asked for "contributions". In one recent such incident in Rio's hilltop Santa Teresa district, a young man in T-shirt and shorts approached a stationary car - but instead of drawing a gun as the driver feared, the man politely asked: "Any change to buy decorations?"

Across the city, locals have been stringing yellow and green tinsel across streets, hanging flags and painting portraits of players on walls and roads before the big kick-off. In Santa Teresa there is a mural of Argentina's World Cup-winner Diego Maradona in a trolley car with Brazilian players. Coca-Cola and the O Globo newspaper, part of Brazil's biggest media group, are sponsoring a competition to find the street with the liveliest decor.

Australia, Brazil's opponents in their second Group F match, had an injury scare concerning their captain Mark Viduka, who sat out his team's practice session in Oehringen yesterday after injuring his leg while warming up.

A team spokesman said Viduka had felt some tightness in his right calf but would be fine for Australia's first match against Japan on Monday. He had completed two slow laps of the pitch when he pulled up. The Middlesbrough striker received treatment and was still limping when he boarded the bus to the team's hotel.

However, Harry Kewell, who has had a groin strain, and Tim Cahill, who has had a knee problem, completed the session after playing in the 3-1 win over Liechtenstein the previous night. Marco Bresciano also resumed training after two days in bed with an ear infection. "I'm feeling a lot better, I've still got pain but it's bearable now," the midfielder said.